nah seriously tho... as much as i like seeing nba players dominate in the olympics, i'd rather see more unknown players out there competing in the olympics. the playing field would even out, and we'd actually be able to enjoy watching with actual competition between countries..

And his stats so far are pretty much exactly the same as last year. We'll see at the end of the year if it made a big difference or not.

Someone isn't watching the games. Dirk is playing much better this year, especially on defense.

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So him traveling to Athens for the FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament and playing 5 games there in July, and then traveling to Beijing for the Olympics and playing 5 games there in August with plenty of rest before and after, is much worse than playing 15 games all across the country in one month (for several months straight)?

And I'm the crazy one?

Have you ever traveled a lot oversea? I have, and not short continental flights, 15+ hours flights all over Europe and Asia (and not sitting in business class with everything handed to me). And even thought it's somewhat tiring, doing it one time a month is nothing to talk about. It's much more tiring to travel all around the country every couple of days and not being able to settle comfortably in one place.

I'll say it again...don't take my word for it, take a player or a coach's word for it.

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Do you see anybody else complain about it? Kobe, LeBron, Wade and company all went. Do you see their owners whine? Only sleazy Cuban does cause he wants a share of the pie all the time. He doesn't own his players. He pays them to play for him. What they want to do of their free time is up to them.

He still let Dirk play didn't he? Pretty ignorant of you to suggest Cuban is greedy. That's why he spends so much on his team, keeps ticket prices low ($2 ticket deals what?), and doesn't mind incurring fines to improve the state of the NBA? Cuban has brought about a lot of reform to the NBA, and educated fans appreciate him for this (even if they don't like him personally). He is about fairness; he probably doesn't care about getting a piece of the pie for himself, but he does care that the Olympic Committee takes the whole pie for themselves while everyone else assumes the risk. Honestly, I don't think you even read the OP because Cuban isn't advocating against international basketball, he is advocating against the current Olympic system.

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As for players not profiting from playing for they're country, most if not all countries give monetary rewards to their athletes for their performance. It's not much compared to their NBA salaries but they're not playing for free. And you have some players who just do it out of pride to represent their country.

Ok...again, Cuban isn't advocating against international basketball, he is advocating against the current Olympic system.

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And yet owners of more successful franchises didn't complain as much or at all.

That's just because Cuban is the most outspoken owner, love him or hate him. He doesn't care about his reputation with the old money boys, he was just some normal dude who got rich and doesn't mind voicing his opinion.

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You brought Ginobili up as if you thought he sustained his injury in the Olympics.

Yes he injured himself even more. It's part of the game.

He could have went there, uninjured to begin with, and came back uninjured. You know.. like hundreds of other players who played in the Olympics.

No, I brought him up because he was a general example of someone whose Olympic experience took an obvious toll on him. And the Spurs and their fans suffered for it. All to stuff the pockets of the Olympic Committee.